Anti-Islam film protests spread to Sydney

Protesters pray in front of a line of police officers in Sydney's Hyde Park, September 15, 2012. Anger over anti-Islam video "Innocence of Muslims" spread to Australia on Saturday with protesters taking to the streets of Sydney, surprising shoppers and catching police off guard.

AFP
Saturday, Sep 15, 2012

SYDNEY - Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in Sydney on Saturday, as a wave of unrest against a film that mocks Islam spread to Australia, with bottles and shoes hurled outside the US consulate.

Furious protests targeting symbols of US influence flared in cities across the Muslim world on Friday in retaliation for a crude film made in the United States by a right-wing Christian group that ridicules the Prophet Mohammed.

At least six protesters died in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Sudan as police there battled to defend American missions from mobs of stone-throwers, and Washington deployed US Marines to protect its embassies in Libya and Yemen.